A sennet sounded. Enter CESAR, ANTONY, POMPEY, LEPIDUS, AGRIPPA, MECENAS, ENOBARBUS, MENAS, with other Captains. Ant. Thus do they, sir: [to Cæs.] They take the flow o' the Nile By certain scales i' the pyramid; they know, 6 Lep. You have strange serpents there. They take the flow o' the Nile-] Pliny, speaking of the Nile, says, 66 How high it riseth, is knowne by markes and measures taken of certain pits. The ordinary height of it is sixteen cubites. Under that gage, the waters overflow not all. Above that stint, there are a let and hindrance, by reason that the later it is ere they bee fallen and downe againe. By these the seedtime is much of it spent, for that the earth is too wet. By the other there is none at all, by reason that the ground is drie and thirstie. The province taketh good keepe and reckoning of both, the one as well as the other. For when it is no higher than 12 cubites, it findeth extreame famine: yea, and at 13 it feeleth hunger still; 14 cubites comforts their hearts, 15 bids them take no care, but 16 affordeth them plentie and delicious dainties. So soone as any part of the land is freed from the water, streight waies it is sowed." Philemon Holland's Translation, 1601, B. V, c. ix. Reed. Shakspeare seems rather to have derived his knowledge of this fact from Leo's History of Africa, translated by John Pory, folio, 1600: "Upon another side of the island standeth an house alone by itselfe, in the midst whereof there is a foure square cesterne or channel of eighteen cubits deep, whereinto the water of Nilus is conveyed by a certaine sluice under ground. And in the midst of the cesterne there is erected a certaine pilter, which is marked and divided into so many cubits as the cisterne containeth in depth. And upon the seventeenth of June, when Nilus beginning to overflow, the water thereof convcied by the said sluce into the channel, increaseth daily. If the water reacheth only to the fifteenth cubit of the said piller, they hope for a fruitful yeere following; but if stayeth between the twelfth cubit and the fifteenth, then the increase of the yeere will prove but mean; if it resteth between the tenth and twelfth cubits, then it is a sign that corne will be solde ten ducates the bushel." Malone. the mean,] i. e. the middle. Steevens. 7 Or foizon, follow:] Foizon is a French word signifying plenty, abundance. I am told that it is still in common use in the North. See Vol. II, p. 54, n. 6. Steevens. Ant. Ay, Lepidus. Lep. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud By the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile. Ant. They are so. Pom. Sit,—and some wine.-A health to Lepidus. Lep. I am not so well as I should be, but I'll ne'er out. Eno. Not till you have slept; I fear me, you'll be in, till then. Lep. Nay, certainly, I have heard, the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things; without contradiction, I have heard that. Men. Pompey, a word. And hear me speak a word.1 Pom. This wine for Lepidus. [Aside. Forbear me till anon. Lep. What manner o' thing is your crocodile ? Ant. It is shaped, sir, like it self; and it is as broad as it hath breadth: it is just so high as it is, and moves with its own organs: it lives by that which nourisheth it; the elements once out of it, it transmigrates. Lep. What colour is it of? 2 and 9 I have heard the Ptolemies' pyramises are very goodly things;] Pyramis for pyramid was in common use in our author's time. So, in Bishop Corbet's Poems, 1647: "Nor need the chancellor boast, whose pyramis "Above the host and altar reared is." From this word Shakspeare formed the English plural, pyramises, to mark the indistinct pronunciation of a man nearly intoxicated, whose tongue is now beginning to "split what it speaks." In other places he has introduced the Latin plural pyramides, which was constantly used by our ancient writers. So, in this play: "My country's high pyramides —" Again, in Sir Aston Cockain's Poems, 1658: "Neither advise I thee to pass the seas, Again, in Braithwaite's Survey of Histories, 1614: "Thou art now for building a second pyramides in the air. Malone. 1 And hear me speak a word.] The two last syllables of this hemistich are, I believe, an interpolation. They add not to the sense, but disturb the measure. Steevens. Lep. 'Tis a strange serpent. Ant. 'Tis so. And the tears of it are wet.2 Cæs. Will this description satisfy him? Ant. With the health that Pompey gives him, else he is a very epicure. Pom. [To MENAS aside.] Go, hang, sir, hang! Tell me of that? away! Do as I bid you.-Where 's this cup I call'd for? Pom. [Aside. I think, thou 'rt mad. The matter? [Rises, and walks aside. Men. I have ever held my cap off to thy fortunes. Pom. Thou hast serv'd me with much faith: What 's else to say? Be jolly, lords. Ant. These quick-sands, Lepidus, Keep off them, for you sink. Men. Wilt thou be lord of all the world? Pom. What say'st thou? Men. Wilt thou be lord of the whole world? That's twice. Pom. How should that be? Men. Although thou think me poor, I am the man, Will give thee all the world. Pom. But entertain it, and, Hast thou drunk well? Men. No, Pompey, I have kept me from the cup. Thou art, if thou dar'st be, the earthly Jove: Whate'er the ocean pales, or sky inclips,? Is thine, if thou wilt have 't. Show me which way. Pom. Men. These three world-sharers, these competitors, Are in thy vessel: Let me cut the cable;5 2 the tears of it are wet.] "Be your tears wet?" says Lear to Cordelia, Act IV, sc. vii. Malone. 3 4 or sky inclips,] i. e. embraces. Steevens. competitors,] i. e. confederates, partners. See Vol. II, p. 183, n. 4. Steevens. 5 Let me cut the cable;] So, in the old translation of Plutarch: "Now in the middest of the feast, when they fell to be merie with Antonius loue vnto Cleopatra, Menas the pirate came to Pompey, and whispering in his eare, said unto him: shall I And, when we are put off, fall to their throats: Pom. Ah, this thou should'st have done, And not have spoke on 't! In me, 'tis villainy; In thee, it had been good service. Thou must know, 'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour; Mine honour, it. Repent, that e'er thy tongue Hath so betray'd thine act: Being done unknown, I should have found it afterwards well done; But must condemn it now. Desist, and drink. Men. For this, [Aside. I'll never follow thy pall'd fortunes more.- Pom. This health to Lepidus. Ant. Bear him ashore.-I'll pledge it for him, Pompey. Eno. Here's to thee, Menas. Men. Enobarbus, welcome. Pom. Fill, till the cup be hid. Men. [Pointing to the Attendant who carries off LEP. Why? cut the gables of the ankers, and make thee Lord not only of Sicile and Sardinia, but of the whole empire of Rome besides? Pompey hauing pawsed a while vpon it, at length aunswered him: thou shouldest haue done it, and neuer have told it me, but now we must content vs with that we haue. As for my selfe, I was neuer taught to breake my faith, nor to be counted a traitor." Steevens. All there is thine.] Thus the old copy. Modern editors read: If alteration be necessary, we might as well give: All theirs is thine. All there, however, may mean, all in the vessel. Steevens. 7 thy pall'd fortunes - Palled, is vapid, past its time of excellence; palled wine, is wine that has lost its original spright. liness. Johnson. Palled is a word of which the etymology is unknown. Perhaps, says Dr. Johnson, in his Dictionary, it is only a corruption of paled, and was originally applied to colours. Thus, in Chaucer's Manciple's Prologue, v. 17,004: "So unweldy was this sely palled ghost." Steevens. 8 Who seeks, and will not take, when once 'tis offer'd, Shall never find it more.] This is from the ancient proverbial rhyme : "He who will not, when he may, "When he will, he shall have nay." Steevens. Eno. The third part of the world, man; See'st not? He bears Men. The third part then is drunk: 'Would it were all, That it might go on wheels!1 Eno. Drink thou; increase the reels.2 Men. Come. Pom. This is not yet an Alexandrian feast. Ant. It ripens towards it.-Strike the vessels,3 ho! Here is to Cæsar. Cas. I could well forbear it. It's monstrous labour, when I wash my brain, Ant. Be a child o' the time. 9 The third part then is drunk: 'Would it were all, &c.] The old copy reads-The third part then he is drunk, &c. The context clearly shows that the transcriber's ear deceived him, and that we should read as I have printed it,-The third part then is drunk. Malone. 1 That it might go on wheels!] The World goes upon Wheels, is the title of a pamphlet written by Taylor the water-poet. Malone. 2 increase the reels.] As the word-reel, was not, in our author's time, employed to signify a dance or revel, and is used in no other part of his works as a substantive, it is not impossible that the passage before us, which seems designed as a continuation of the imagery suggested by Menas, originally stood thus: "Drink thou, and grease the wheels." A phrase, somewhat similar, occurs in Timon of Athens: with liquorish draughts &c. 3 66 greases his pure mind, "That from it all consideration slips." Steevens. Strike the vessels,] Try whether the casks sound as empty. Johnson. I believe, strike the vessels means no more than chink the vessels one against the other, as a mark of our unanimity in drinking as we now say, chink glasses. Steevens. Mr. Steevens is surely right. So, in one of Iago's songs: "And let me the cannikin clink." Ritson. Vessels probably mean kettle-drums, which were beaten when the health of a person of eminence was drunk; immediately after we have, "make battery to our ears with the loud musick." They are called kettles in Hamlet: "Give me the cups; "And let the kettle to the trumpet speak." Dr. Johnson's explanation degrades this feast of the lords of the whole world into a rustic revel. H. White. |